----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 10:17 AM Subject: Re: Criticism, Self-Criticism, and a few other things.
> >From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
> >
> >Carl Remick wrote:
> > > [clip]
> > > Hmm, I thought Marxism was the "ruthless criticism of all that
exists."
> >How
> > > do you define "all"?
> >
> >"All" means the basic structure of society in this case, the
> >historically determinate social relations which constitute us and which
> >we need to transform/throw off. Marx was contrasting such criticism to
> >the writing of recipes for the cook shops of the future -- i.e., two
> >kinds of theoretical work. It does not mean merely finding people to
> >blame for all our troubles. It's easy to sneer at suv-owners, academics,
> >bush-voters, or mythical categories such as "baby boomers" but it hardly
> >contributes to the ruthless criticism marx called for.
>
> Sure it does. Boomers, e.g., are no more mythical than any other
historical
> age cohort; generations are profoundly shaped by their common experiences
in
> facing wars, depressions, etc. The Vietnam War and the civil rights
> struggles of the sixties sensitized many boomers to major issues of social
> justice. But the generation's broad interest in social progress and
protest
> simply mutated into a sterile, narcissistic pursuit of individual
> enlightenment or into the many appalling forms of hip capitalism, e.g.,
MTV.
> All of this provides rich subject matter, IMO, for discussing how
material
> forces trump good intentions.
>
> Carl
>
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